Why in News?  

• Chinese astronauts successfully performed the country’s first spacewalk, on the outside of the new Tiangong station in orbit around the Earth.

 China’s Space Station:

• The  multi-module Tiangong station is set to be operational for at least 10 years.
• It orbits Earth at an altitude of 340 to 450 km (Lower Earth Orbit)
• Recently China also launched Tianhe-  living quarters for astronauts- a main component of Tiangong station, rivalling the only other station in service – the International Space Station (ISS).
• Work on the space station programme began a decade ago with the launch of a space lab Tiangong-1 in 2011, and later, Tiangong-2 in 2016.
  • The ISS is backed by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. China was barred from the ISS by the United States.

What is China hoping to achieve?

• China aims to become a major space power by 2030.
• The ISS is about to expire by 2024, hence China hopes to be the leader by providing the alternative.

Other Space Missions of China

• Chang’e-5 -Moon

• Tianwen-1 – Mars

Additional Details

India and its Space station

• India has also set its eye on building its own space station in low earth orbit to conduct microgravity experiments in space in 5 to 7 years.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

• LEO is typically a circular orbit about 400 to 900 kilometres above the earth’s surface and, correspondingly, has a much shorter period (time to revolve around the earth) of about 90 minutes.
• Low earth orbiting satellites are less expensive to launch into orbit than geostationary satellites and, due to proximity to the ground, do not require as high a signal strength.

  To know more about International Space Station and different orbits of Earth- https://officerspulse.com/international-space-station-iss/

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/chinese-astronauts-complete-first-spacewalk-at-new-station/article35136697.ece